Apostolic address and salutation.
The full representation which the apostle gives of his apostolic office is designed at once to mark the authority by which he gives the instructions that follow, and to serve as an index to the contents of the whole Epistle.
I. THE CLAIMS OF THE APOSTLE. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ."
1. He is a servant of God. Not, as he often describes himself, "a servant of Jesus Christ." The title seems to mark the relation
2. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is a more exact definition of his office.
II. THE END OF THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE. "For the faith of God's elect, and the full knowledge of the truth which is after godliness." It was designed for the furtherance of the faith and knowledge of believers.
1. The apostle felt that he was appointed to preach the doctrine of faith, and to be the instrument of bringing men to the obedience of faith. (Romans 1:5; Romans 10:17.)
2. The apostolic office was designed likewise to impart the full knowledge of the truth which is after godliness.
III. THE BASIS OF THIS TRUTH. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before eternal times." The ground and condition of this truth is the hope of eternal life, which is the animating principle at once of the apostle and of the Church of God.
1. The principle of hope. The word occurs fifty-two times in the New Testament, and is always connected with God, with the Mediator, and with believers.
2. The object and sum of Christian hope. "Eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before eternal times."
(a) the full fruition of God to all eternity;
(b) the fellowship of the Redeemer's throne;
(c) the fullness of joy;
(d) likeness to Christ.
(a) This is not merely before the times of the world, or
(b) before the world began,
(c) but really in the eternity past;
because the reference is not to the covenants of Adam or Abraham, but to the covenant of redemption in Christ before the foundation of the world (2 Timothy 1:9-11). The apostle does not merely say that the promise of eternal life was the result of a Divine purpose fixed from eternity, but that it was made from eternity to believers, because it was made to Christ, whose members they are. It is impossible to understand the meaning of these words without reference to the federal transaction between the Father and the Son (Zechariah 6:13). This was the very "promise of life in Christ Jesus" of which the apostle speaks to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:1).
IV. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS ANCIENT PROMISE. "But in his own seasons manifested his Word in the message wherewith I was entrusted, according to the commandment of God our Savior."
1. The manifestation was made in God's own seasons.
2. The Word of God, and the whole order and fullness of the Church, are to be regarded as the unfolding of the ancient promise of eternal life.
3. The Word is made manifest by preaching. (Romans 10:17.) Preaching is an institute peculiar to Christianity, which it formed for itself as its chosen mode of utterance. Christianity is not a philosophy or a thaumaturgy. It is propagated, not by priests, but by preachers. There are no priests in Christianity but the one High Priest of our profession, who, if he were on earth, would not be a priest (Hebrews 8:4).
4. The preaching is done in virtue of a Divine call or commission. "Wherewith I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior." All the ministries of the New Testament, high and low, are committed as trusts to the Church. Therefore a minister ought to have a true call from on high before accepting the responsibilities of office. The apostle was very emphatic in announcing his call to the apostleship, not as in any way due to his own wilt or wish, but to Divine command, it was the command of "God his Savior;" not the Son, but the Father—the usual phrase of the apostle being "according to the will of God" (2 Timothy 1:1).
V. THE APOSTOLIC SALUTATION. "To Titus, my true son after the common faith."
1. The person thus addressed.
(a) there is but one faith (Ephesians 4:5);
(b) one Object of faith, Jesus Christ;
(c) one end of faith, eternal life.
2. The greeting. "Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior."
(a) Grace is the full and eternal fountain of the goodness of God, opened to the wants of men in the blessed gospel;
(b) peace is the blessing of the saints, to which they are called in one body, and the safeguard of heart and mind through him who is their Peace (Philippians 4:7).